1st Workshop · In conjunction with iSpaRo 2026
Multi-Agent Systems
Strategies for Space
How can teams of autonomous agents work together intelligently to explore other worlds — and one day build space settlements? MASS brings the community together to find out.
The Goal
Autonomy is the new mission architecture
Future space and planetary missions increasingly depend on teams of autonomous agents rather than single, monolithic systems. Orbiters, surface robots and distributed infrastructure assets must operate collaboratively under extreme conditions.
While redundancy reduces the risk of mission failure, the complexity of coordinating and operating such multi-agent systems grows — demanding more autonomy and embedded artificial intelligence. MASS brings together a multi-disciplinary group of experts to investigate how multiple agents can work together intelligently for extraterrestrial exploration and even towards space settlements.
The workshop introduces this theme to the scientific community, discusses the challenges involved, and identifies approaches that drive research toward this goal.
Discussion Topics
What we will explore together
A non-exhaustive map of the questions MASS puts on the table. Contributors are encouraged to submit work that addresses more than one of these challenges.
Distributed intelligence & decentralized MAS architectures
Multi-agent planning, coordination & task allocation for heterogeneous teams
Individual & collective knowledge representation
Dynamic reconfiguration in multi-agent systems
MAS communication in large-scale extraterrestrial environments
Learning & adaptation under sparse feedback and long delay
Benchmarks, metrics & evaluation for long-horizon MAS
Robustness, resilience & risk-aware MAS
MAS for sustainable extraterrestrial settlements
Space robotics & AI for humanitarian applications [Space for Good]
Description & Format
Talks, papers & a hands-on poster session
MASS aims to bring researchers together, facilitate collaborations and discuss future directions in multi-agent systems for space applications. Insights are intended to benefit the robotics community by advancing MAS methods for space — with potential transfer to terrestrial applications.
01
Invited Talks
Two invited talks introduce the vision — from single missions to a persistent space presence — and frame the key challenges of the field.
02
Paper Presentations
Selected authors present current research. Contributions can be scientific papers or posters; details follow in the official call for contributions.
03
Extended Poster Session
A dedicated poster session encourages direct participation, networking and discussion of current work and findings.
Online participation via a streamed Teams meeting is planned to widen access and encourage exchange (feasibility to be confirmed; subject to consent of speakers and audience).
Tentative Schedule
A morning in orbit Tentative
Half-day programme. This schedule is tentative — times and sessions are provisional and may change.
09:40
Welcome speech
Dr. Mehmed Yüksel — welcome to the MASS workshop.
09:50
Invited talk: “Scaling multi-agent approaches to long-duration operations”tbc
Introducing the vision from single missions to a persistent space presence.
10:20
Paper #1
Presenting current research.
10:40
Paper #2
Presenting current research.
11:00
Coffee break
Get-together, networking and poster presentations.
11:30
Extended poster session
Continuation of the poster session.
11:40
Invited talktbd
Second invited talk on the subject area.
12:10
Paper #3
Presenting current research.
12:30
Paper #4
Presenting current research.
12:50
Conclusion & closing
Closing words.
13:00
End of workshop
Invited Speakers
Voices from the field
Two invited talks anchor the programme. Speaker line-up in progress.
1
First invited speaker
to be confirmed
“Scaling multi-agent approaches to long-duration operations” — introducing the vision from single missions to a persistent space presence.
?
Second invited speaker
to be announced
A second invited talk on the workshop’s subject area is planned. Details will follow soon.
Organizers
Organized by
A joint effort of the DFKI Robotics Innovation Center and the University of Bremen.
† DFKI ↗
German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence GmbH
Robotics Innovation Center
‡ University of Bremen ↗
Faculty 3 — Mathematics and Computer Science
Robotics Research Group
